Navy Strength

The ship has finally come in and we are now ready to release the newest member of the Manchester Gin Family…. Manchester Gin – Overboard, our navy strength gin.

Not many people know the origins of Navy Strength gin and why they are always 57% Vol. or higher. It all dates back to the 18th century when the Royal Navy would sail around the world with their gin hungry crew.

Essentially while on these long voyages some of the light fingered crew who were stuck out at sea for months on end would sneak down to where the gin was being stored, have a little tipple and then top the barrel up with some water so that their crime would be hidden. The only problem with this is that it wasn’t just one crew member doing this so by the time the officer came to have a little tipple what they were drinking no longer resembled gin.

The only way to combat this was to devise a simple test that was quick and conclusive and luckily enough this came in the form of gunpowder. When both were stored together it was discovered that if you mixed gunpowder with gin that was over 57% Vol it would still ignite, but if the gin had been watered down below this point the gunpowder simply wouldn’t light.

So if the officers ever wanted to check that the gin was still at the correct % they would simply carry out the gunpowder test, if it ignited everything was ok but if it didn’t invariable one of the crew members was going OVERBOARD – so in homage to this great story Manchester Gin – Overboard was born.

In terms of what to expect to taste from the gin, while you will notice the extra alcohol you will still be able to get the smoothness and sweetness that is synonymous with our gin’s and once you add a little tonic the citrus notes will open up and come alive.

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